The Pink Dice Chronicles

The party had defeated the two guardians last session and was now standing in a room of alcoves, each a grave.  Three doorways exited the room besides the direction they entered.  To the south, there was a small room with a single large sarcophagus, so covered in dust that Felix could not make out what it was made of. Felix entered, sure that there were no traps (and he would know!).  Unfortunately, 4 wraiths came out of the walls and surrounded him. Felix turned into a bat and flew away.  The rest of the party prepared for attack.  Corrail fired shots with his bow.  Chum swung wildly at the wraiths who pawed at him.  Elliot, the Cavalier, moved up to attack with his sword.  The bard played loudly  greatly inspiring the party.  Sandra, the summoner, buffed herself with magic spells, in prep for a lengthy battle.  Niva blasted the wraiths with magical lightning.  The monk, downtrodden and drunk after lamenting his answer ...

And so the party gathered together to venture into the temple.  The cavalier was leading the way with the rogue close behind, casters near the back, and Kiva riding Chum in the last position.  The white temple stones gleemed in the sunlight as they climbed the long stairs to the top of the temple platform.  Melee guards clad in shining armor with the symbol of the Morninglord stared unyieldingly forward as the party passed.  3 platforms adorned the top of the pyrimidal temple, one with the entrance surrounded with archers, and two off to the side with battle priests ready to defend. The party was surprised to find the temple in working order with gnomes and priests about.  The first level below was a speaking room, enchanced with magic to allow the large hall to be split into 4 podium areas with benches without having voices carry too far between the various areas.  AA search of the area turned up confessional rooms.  Don tried to entered but was...

Tonight Don the Magnificent's player was out sick, so I took him on as a NPC in cases where the group needed his help.  Because he is the only good knowledge character in the group, his help is sometimes pretty critical. --- The players also got started on a new background / contacts system that I have been working on.  It provides lifepaths to replace the existing trait system, and then provides a structure for getting and tracking goals, affiliate groups, contacts, and relationships. --- The last two weeks of game time has been spent repairing and augmenting the Thornhold's defenses so the party could move on to other things.  Felix has taken over tactical planning for the keep and added a moat complete with spikes and oil barrels that can be dumped into it and set fire.  6 ballistas were added to the keep (in addition to the cannon, 2 springals, and firewyrm).  A secondary gate was added to the main entrance so invaders will be trapped in the tower if the...

Tonight we continued the battle from last session.  Arrows flew, dragons pounced.  The cavalier charged through the rush of Dwarves trying to get in the keep.  Yuri went down (but not dead).  The bard jumped off the keep with feather fall and had the monk pick him up and carry him piggy-back style out within range of the Dwarven General for a blast of Dominate Person.  Siege weapons were reloaded.  The crowd anxiously awaited the result. "Fall back.  They are too much for us," said the General. The dominate person spell worked, and despite the successes that the group was having against the Dwarves, they didn't have to fight to the last man. They got some equipment from the battlefield and a domesticated Bullette worth 500 kgp in Mirabar.  Unfortunately Mirabar is 18 days travel there and back and requires one to go through Luskan. A messenger wandered by and took up lodging with them in the keep.  The word was not good -- Waterdeep h...

 Sandra and Don the Magnificent returned from Waterdeep with an army of defenders and many construction workers.  Construction was quickly underway to install the new gate and the firewurm.  Crews also assembled and placed the two new springals and the new cannon.  Felix scouted the region from the air.  Corrail scouted the region as well during hunting. A small caravan wagon train passed through on the road heading from Waterdeep to Luskan.  Don and Felix went out to try to negotiate trade with the familiar driver named Greenback.  Greenback seemed annoyed and nervous and insisted on moving on, promising to stop back if they weren't all killed by the time of his return trip. At dawn, assault on the Thornhold began with the blow of a Dwarven horn.  35 Dwarves appeared at the edge of the forest.  A group of 20 foot solders and their 4 commanders charged the hold directly with two gargantuan ladders and a gallery ram.  Several ranger...

Most of our session Friday night was spent dealing with new characters, new riches, and the new keep.  Ally the Gnome Sorceress is dead and replaced by Sandra the Half-elf Summoner.  Muroki the monk also has replaced Zirul.  Oh, hmmm... the group has no cleric now. --- Don the Magnificent took a crack at interrogating the two bandit prisoners.  Even with dominate person, Don wasn't able to get much information.  The two prisoners were new to the bandit group, knew of a hidden cave that the bandits used but not its location, and knew that there was only a week to the Forgebar Dwarve's attack.  He threatened to kill the prisoners, but one of them recognized the markings of the order on the cavalier's shield.  She called on the cavalier to let her go and he made it happen.  Meanwhile the giant who previously been under dominate person was now eating while sitting on the sliff ledge in the underground cavern below the castle, happy, for now. --- T...

The party checked out the the Thornhold, a great keep set on the side of a mountain.  They were given a map with a secret entrance.  Felix and Corrail crawled down the cliff and into a drain tunnel.  Invisible, they followed the tunnel past a one-way mechanism (that they disabled) into a cell.  Through the drain grate, they could see the cell's occupant, a ratfolk archaeologist named Byron.  Byron talked the two into escorting him into the tunnel, though he was wary of climbing out.  Corrail and Felix checked out the rest of the cell area and could peer out into a main chamber that opened out onto the cliff face.  There they spotted two large giants, sitting and eating. They returned, taking Byron along, and getting back to the rest of the party.  They diced to split into two groups.  Elliot, Ally, Zirul, the Tiger, and Yuri would hold back for a frontal attack, while Don, Corrail, and Felix would go in through the tunnel and try to take ou...

So the party started into the Sword Mountains, leaving Waterdeep behind and following their "new" guide Marlowe and keeping a watchful eye on the map they picked up in the city.  Up into the mountains, Felix, the rogue, spots two goblins and says 'hi'.  They run off.  The group continues on, and with the cavalier out in front on his horse, the rogue is too late in spotting the trap.  A sonic trap goes off all around them. Then goblins appear... lots of goblins.  72 goblins.  Goblins with crossbows.  Goblin shaman casters.  Goblin dog riders.  Goblin spearmen.  Goblin infantry with swords.  They were crawling out of holes in the ground.  They were appearing on the cliffs and rocks above. (To simplify tracking of 72 goblins, I had them attack mostly in groups, and I gave them only 1 hp.  If you hit, you kill.  On the board, they were represented by goblin miniatures with a die next to them keeping track of the numbe...

The party regroups, including Zirul, and the tiger, who now points a way to follow him.  The group searched the remains and finds out the secret of the Pyramid necklaces.  It is a big pyramid scheme for energy.  When one of them dies, the others get the energy.  Don, with his necklace, is becoming so charismatic that he can sparkle like a Twilight vampire. The group follows the tiger to a cellar door in a big old building.  Don talks his way mostly out of the fight after it started.  He realizes these are thugs for the Xanathar's Thieve's Guild. --- Meanwhile Felix awaits, tied to a stone chair in an underground cavern.  Marlowe is one of the guards keep watch over him.  He has been informed that he awaits trial for not completing his mission to deal with the red wizard in Secomber. --- The party gains access and follows the cellars through cavern after cave until they reach the beholder's chamber.  Don negotiates a price on Felix's hea...

The party as it now stands: Elf Ranger Corrail Winter Wolf Yuri Corrail's Father (Maiali)   Don The Magnificent, an older human bard Ally the Gnome Sorcerer Elliot, Human Cavalier Felix, Half-elf Rogue / Druid Felix's tiger whose name I forget Zirul, Half-elf Cleric Zirul and Felix were unmanned tonight.  Prior to reaching the courtyard with the adult red dragon, Felix and the tiger went missing. The party grabbed some potions from a potion cart in the courtyard while Don talked to the dragon.  On a lucky diplomacy reroll, Don was able to calm the dragon.  He demanded food and wine, which the party rushed to get, and ate his fill and then flex off to a hidden cave to rest.  Corrail noticed that the dragon had a bit of trouble exiting the city -- was that some sort of barrier? With the dragon gone, a massive tidal wave was seen heading into the city.  With seconds to spare, Don teleported the party to the Bowels of the Earth, a local Wa...

The party lined up against the froghemoth.  Elrick charged in and was grabbed up by the monster's mouth.  Several players ran to the nearby stores (Wondrous Items Store and Alchemical Store) looking for valuable items for the battle.  Elrick dumped a mess of fuse grenades down into the monster and lit them up with a fire bomb.  134 damage to the froghemoth left it 2/3 dead.  Thanks to a bit of karma, Elrick was thrown clear.  Yuri blasted it with his breath weapon.  Ally blasted it with magic.  The monster grabbed up Ally and the tiger with his tentacles.  Ally finally took it down with another blast of magic missile. The group gathered up and teleported to the Bowels of the Earth where Corrail's father wanted to speak to Mirt.  There the group was attacked by a fire elemental.  All fought hard until Don blasted the elemental with the Wand of Wonder (Wubba Wubba),  shrinking to 10% of its initial size.  Corrail...

Having been kicked out of the Blushing Mermaid, the group moved on to the Trades District to a place called the Bowels of the Earth, first briefly stopping by a temple to get Don's charisma damage healed.  Yuri (Winter Wolf), Don the Magnifiscent (Human Bard), and Corrail (Half-elf Ranger) went off to visit Corrail's father.  The animals were becoming more unsettled and there seemed to be signs that something strange was about to happen. Felix (Half-elf rogue/druid), tiger (whose name I forget), Elrick (human alchemist-barbarian), Ally (gnome sorceress), and Zirul (Half-elf cleric) went on to the Bowels with Marlowe (their guide).  Felix was happy to find a fellow shadowthief there, who directed him on how to get a backroom for the night.  Therein, the party slept except for the alchemist who stayed up brewing potions. Corrail found his father before reaching the flat.  He seemed to be sneaking back in the direction of the tavern.  Corrail followed him,...

So the party left Daggerford, headed for Waterdeep, with covered wagon, horses, a tiger, a winter wolf, and a war camel.  The entrance to Waterdeep was hustling and bustling.  They were stopped only for a moment by an old elf warning of the end of the world or some such apocalypse. The group split with the agreement to meet at the Blushing Mermaid at Sunset.  Ally, the gnome, and Elrick, the alchemist-barbarian, headed directly to the Mermaid, getting a luxurious room to share.  Ally got a bath while Elrick went to the public bathing pool. Marlowe and Don "The Magnificent" went elsewhere together, with Marlowe agreeing to act as a guide for additional free-flowing coin.  Don wanted first to change his appearance.  The local aptohecary supplied a potion to darken his hair and grow a rich beard.  It was a bit much, so the barber next door straightened it up for him.  Talking to the barber, Don tired to track down a lead on his hidden Cthulian re...

Friday Night, the band got back together, and Felix, Corrail, Ally, Don the Magnificent  Zirul (player absent) and the new human barbarian / alchemist Elrick got underway in the ruins below Secomber. Elrick had taken refuge in a cave while running from the city guard.  It just so happened to be the same caverns that the party was stuck in. Elrick joined with the party just as they uncovered a Dream Spectre, which was quickly dispatched.  A Cloud dragon then appeared, which Don was able to reach an understanding with.  The party left the caves. Above ground they emerged into a firefight between Ally's father and the Red Wizard.  The party, all except for Felix, was caught by a huge, concentrated burst of entangle that trapped them.  Felix chased the Red Wizard into the forest until he completely lost him, in fact, until he came across a large enchanted druid grove.  Familiarity drew him in and the glowing spirit of his mother c...

The Shadowrunners started the week off with a full group in combat with a Bebelith.  Don the magnificent talked to the Bebilith and then called forth the Contract Devil in hopes that the Bebelith would find him more appetizing.  Instead, the Devil and Bebelith strike a contract, returning the Bebelith to its home place and ridding the party of the Contract Devil's possible future appearance. In the room, the party found odds and ends junk. During the start of the battle, Zirule, the cleric, was possessed by his diety, who has a major beef with Asmodeus for affecting his cleric through the foolish Gnome's wish.  Zirule's eyes glowed blue, his weapon glowed with blue flame, and he got stronger.  In the future, any encounters with serious evil alignment will probably call this diety power in Zirule. The party went back from where they came.  They found a Vampire, and later a pair of glass golems.  They found a library full of books and scrolls. Eventua...

The shadowrunners, down 1 cleric, were discussing contract options with a contract devil when last we left them.  The bard, Don the Magnificent, attempted to outwit the devil, but instead simply scared the group away from making a deal.  Under need to meet his quota for his god Asmodeus, the devil decide to kill the party.  The party, outmatched and fearful for their lives, stopped the devil, and Ally, the gnome sorceress, offered her soul up in trade for the 3 wishes.  Her wishes were written down to ensure clarity, reviewed by the group, and then reviewed and granted by the devil: I wish all negative opinions and bounties were lifted from my friends and I, and were not replaced by any bounty ever. I wish all red wizards and Shardosferin the dragon, and only them, to be dead and never to be risen. The devil interpreted the second wish as two wishes (one for red wizards and one for Shardosferin, and granted it and with completion of the wishes, seale...

Ally gets turned in by Jaycoff the junk salesman and she outruns the guard out of the city. Ally and Felix sit in the bushes and drink till they pass out. Ally and Felic hide in a caravan to get back into the city. Ally and Felix steal a wagon and have to abandon it and nearly get caught. Riiver and Corrail visit Don as he his broken out and dressed as a woman to escape. Gnomes hide Don in Jaycoffs. Don learns that Lord's assets arebing liquidated so he can escape. Don tries to build a rune and fires a lightning bolt which draws attention of Corrail and River.  They scare off gnomes and reunite with Don. Party gets back together. Visit to Max Trip to cellar in western ruins.

So Yuri, the Tiger, Zirul, and Ally caught the man who took off with Ally the Gnome in a sack. "You stole me," Ally cried as they interrogated him.  They dragged him off to a nearby abandoned cabin as the rest of the party caught up to them. The group tried to intimidate, bluff, and get information out of the man, but fearing his own death, he was mostly uncooperative.  He finally called on Zirul, noting he was a cleric, to give his word that he would be released, and exchange, he would give up the location of a treasure.  After learning that the man was a bounty hunter, Zirule released him with treasure map in hand. The group gathered up their horses and camel and headed for Secomber.  Along the path, at night, four horsemen on barded horses stopped them.  A knight on a huge warhorse appeared before them and ordered Lord Rutherford to stand down and be arrested, pointing all the while at Don the Magnificent.  He went with them, and the knight warned ...

The Shadowrunner, having escaped the army attacking Candlekeep, headed north towards Baldur's gate and then onward past Dragonspear Castle to Daggerford.  A stop in Baldur's Gate got them stocked up for the journey.  Along the way they had some interesting adventures. They met Bimley, lead human in a caravan of 3 caravan wagons packed with potion bottles.  He haggled with them for quite a while, trying to coax them into buy various vintages of potions... invisibility potions, barkskin potions (which the crew bought 10 of), and potions of gnomish contraptions.  The rogue, of course, attempted to talk the seller into trying an invisibility potion, but Bimley was too keen for such an obvious breach of seller's etiquette.  Instead he called forth a tall lanky elf from his crew name who attested, "It makes you turn invisible." The also happened across a wagon of stone headed for Baldur's Gate for routine repairs. Traveling along the road they also happened...

The Shadowrunners left off outside the gates of Baldur's Gate.  A minister exited the gate and put up a new wanted poster with pictures of the Human Bard "Don the Magnificent", the Elvan Ranger Corrail, the Gnome Sorceress Ally, and Felix the Half-elf Druid / Rogue.  A Paladin Roday is also metnioned as an accessory to their crime.  The posters states "Wanted: Dead or Alive". The wanted quickly shuffle away.  River, the female instantiation of Rodar, walked up and checked out the poster.  The bard quickly shaves his mustache using a dagger and shuffles his appearance.  The Human Half-elf Cleric Zirul takes up the tiger, after talking to Corrail, and heads into the city to look for reasons for this poster.  Don has to talk his way through a quick interrogation by the guard.  After gathering loot, he heads into the city with Zirul and River. The Elfsong tavern greats the crew with table and table of drunken locals.  Zirul approaches the ta...